Back to main site.Weekend with Ondi
Posted by Richie | Filed under inspirational, musings and humor
A few weeks back Futuristic organized a very special weekend for one of our most esteemed directors, 2x Grand Jury Prize winner of the Sundance Film Festival, Ondi Timoner. The weekend included Q&A sessions with Ondi as well as a provocative panel discussion on the topic of the emerging virtual world and its effects on advertising and culture.
The star-studded panel:
ONDI TIMONER / Director of We Live in Public
E.F. RODRIGUEZ / Social Media Expert and Writer for the Huffington Post
SCOTT PRINDLE / Crispin Porter + Bogusky - SVP of Interactive
ALEX “BURNIE” BURNARD / Crispin Porter + Bogusky - Creative Director
Moderated by
BRENDAN KIERNAN / Executive Producer of Futuristic Films
If you were there… you know, and if you weren’t… you missed out… and if you have not seen either of her films. (tsk tsk) (which would surprise me…Netflix has been recommending them to me for months) do not live and breath another second until you do so.
I was so lucky as to have the privilege of carting her to and from the airport all weekend and as a budding filmmaker myself, the quiet time on a 1 hour car ride was all I could ever ask for. She has so many ridiculous stories (more lives than a cat, that woman!)
Ondi is the epitome of a true documentary filmmaker… a force of nature. Not to gush, but her work seems solely indicative of her person with uncanny intuition paired with some serious social/political prowess. Clarity emerges through her storytelling. Her films not only exude an authentic sensitivity to issues but effortlessly engage you in those issues. Her company, Interloper Films was founded upon the idea of injecting herself and her team into a situation of which she doesn’t intrinsically belong.
She debuted “We Live in Public” at Sundance. The film considers some of the darker effects of modern media and technology on our personal identity through an examination of “the greatest internet pioneer you’ve never heard of”, Josh Harris. The dot-com millionaire had an affinity for expensive fascist-themed social experiments that eventually led to his mental breakdown.
Incredible films and an incredible lady! Check out Ondi’s work at www.interloperfilms.com
MORE BIG NEWS !!!
Interloper is thrilled to announce the imminent Video-on-Demand and DVD releases of WE LIVE IN PUBLIC, on March 1st and March 2nd. Go here for more details. (http://www10.dcccafe.com/nbc/articles/view_article.php?articleid=782463)
Tags: inspirational, musings and humor
Pilar Diaz
Posted by Brendan | Filed under inspirational, new work
So, a couple of weeks ago I had the pleasure of meeting Pilar Diaz, a Chilean singer/songwriter who recently produced an album through the siteLA program in Los Angeles. I discovered her music through a friend and was immediately captivated by the orginality, quirky funkiness, sensuality, and effortless mix of english and spanish lyrics. I thought she would be a perfect fit to do some scoring and possibly some original music for our upcoming feature documentary, Las Chulas. The story focuses on three El Salvadorean girls and takes place in El Salvador and California. The film is bilingual and spans the gamut in these girls’ lives from early teens innocence to the joys and hard choices of adulthood.
Pilar and I spent an hour talking music, film, and inspiration. At the end of our meeting I was even more convinced that she would be a great fit. The film is still a long way from being finished and there are many steps, both creative and logistical, still to come in terms of getting Pilar on board, but I’m hopeful we’ll make it happen.
Do yourself a favor and check out her music:
http://www.myspace.com/pilardiaz
And here is a live performance from SiteSTAGE:
The power of the camera
Posted by Maura g | Filed under inspirational
Always keep your mind open and your curiosity peaked.
I went to a show the other night at the Hi-Dive. Packed house for 3 out of town bands. Dawes, Other Lives & Delta Spirit. In between sets I ambled over to the merch tables, just to browse. I love looking at what kind of design the band deems to be their image at the moment. Next to the merch table there was a table that had nothing to do (or so I thought) with the bands. Invisible Children it said, and there was a stack of DVD’s..all sorts of different ones. “Have you heard of Invisible Children?” the friendly beaming face said to me. “No.” I stated flatly. And in the next 5 minutes I was reminded of how powerful the medium of film & video can be. What an incredible undertaking and resulting accomplishment. This team started with a simple documentary of their experience in Uganda..and from that have created such a worthy foundation with an admirable cause. Not only are they collecting millions of dollars used for building schools in Uganda and donating hundreds of thousands of books for those schools but they are waking the awareness of other cultures and those cultures strife in otherwise sheltered American kids. And they are doing it with creativity and style and excitement.
Fantastic.
Please go check their site. Invisiblechildren.com
